Brain Breaks for Speech Therapy
We all need a brain break sometimes! When working on critical thinking skills or fully focusing our attention on learning in speech therapy, our brain power is on full blast! Brain breaks are perfect for giving our brains a much needed break, and our students definitely need that brain break too! Speech therapy is demanding on our young learners and giving them a break from strict attention and focus is really important. Check out brain breaks for speech therapy!
Brain breaks truly are just that, breaks for our brains. Brains are just giant muscles and they need a recharge every once in a while after use. Restore, reboot, refocus brains with brain breaks. When in school all day student brains are really forced to retain information, focus on new information, manage multiple subjects, think critically and pay close attention. All of that really does make the brain work hard. Brain breaks are the perfect tool to reset and give our students a chance to do their best in school, create new ideas, and of course new speech!
Brain breaks can range from movement to coloring. Play is a great brain break. Play Simon Says, or tell silly jokes, dance, play with sensory bins, or playdough, or even do some yoga! These are all moments of fun or calm to reset and recharge our brains for the next learning activity. Take a look below for my two favorite YouTube video brain breaks. These are quick and effective and don’t take any extra planning!
My favorite brain break video to use in therapy is Koo Koo Kangaroo Pop See Ko. It is free on YouTube! This video combines high energy, dancing, colors, and of course some great movements. Students will love getting up and moving, following the Pop See Ko movements and just taking a break! If you like this one, check out Koo Koo Kangaroo’s YouTube channel with more videos for brain breaks! Find Pop See Ko here!
Another favorite brain break video is Jack Hartmann’s YouTube channel. “If You’re Happy Back at School” is a great one for back to school time! This gets the students up and moving to a variation of the Happy and You Know it song! Clapping, wiggling, and waving are all ways students can participate in this video! Jack Hartmann is engaging, high energy, and the song is definitely fun to listen to! Jack Hartmann has a whole YouTube channel full of fun songs to sing and dance along to for brain breaks or for learning. Check it out here!
Brain breaks are so critical to getting our students to be ready and eager for learning. Speech therapy is so important for our students and by giving them a quick brain break reset, you will be making an ideal learning environment because all of the brains in the room will be fully ready to learn! Brain breaks for speech therapy are an excellent strategy for success and you will enjoy them too!
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